8 Surprising secrets to live longer and look better

In my new book, Use Your Brain to Change Your Age, I explain that the fountain of youth is between your ears — not in the hands of a cosmetic surgeon. Here are eight surprising secrets to living longer and looking better.

The best anti-aging tool is your brain

Want to look and feel like you’ve had a face-lift without going under the knife? Focus on improving the health of your brain. The most expensive cosmetics or surgeons in the world cannot make you as beautiful as good brain-smart living can. Here’s how you can exercise your own anti-aging powers.

Surprising anti-aging secrets

You are what you eat

The health of your skin is an outside reflection of the health of your brain. Proper nutrition pays huge dividends from the inside out, in the quantity and quality of your life. Remember these four youth-inducing rules:

Get sunlight, but not too much. Vitamin D is best absorbed through the skin. Use safe sunscreens that don’t have toxins more harmful than sun exposure. (Check out the Environmental Working Group’s list at www.ewg.org.)

Lose weight wisely

If you lose weight, even just 10 pounds, from eating highly nutritious foods, it can decrease the age of your face. Losing weight on low-calorie, low-nutrient foods is more likely to make you look drawn, wrinkled and weak.

Get your beauty sleep

It’s true: You really do need seven to eight hours of quality sleep every night. Your brain and body go through a regeneration process every night, so the better you sleep, the better you’ll look and feel.

Ditch the toxins

Smoking, sugar and too much alcohol and caffeine are the main culprits in premature aging. If you want to boost the quality of your life and slow down the clock, clean up your lifestyle.

Use high-quality skin care products

Wash, exfoliate, tone and moisturize your skin with high-quality skin care products that are free of toxins and contain ingredients that are good for your brain, such as pomegranate and white tea.

Have more sex

One study showed that a loving, active sex life (three times per week) can make people appear seven to 12 years younger. However, this is only true in the context of a loving, committed relationship. If sex occurs in unhealthy relationships, it can cause the opposite effects. Check out these sex facts:

People who have lots of sex tend to eat better and exercise more!

Having great sex — and a lot of it — can boost the levels of hormones, such as estrogen and DHEA, both of which promote smoother, tighter skin.

Having sex burns about 200 calories per lovemaking session, on average.

Smile and be grateful

It’s that simple: Learning to love life and being grateful helps you be happier, which makes you smile more, and helps you be beautiful from the inside out.